Hello from Telemark Norway / Hallo frå Telemark!

[crush]

Greetings from the land of cabin vacations, pining parrots, and brown cheese!

My name is Matthew/Mat, but I use "Crush" to avoid any confusion, since there are quite a few Matthew/Matt/Matty's here already!

I'm not yet a member of any local brewing networks - I'm not sure there are any where I live - I would be very happy to learn otherwise!

I've been a homebrewer since summer 2007. Brewing beer has always been one of my aspirations since I moved to Norway. In fact, i bought a kit the same month I moved here - read into that what you will about the quality of the local beer at the time! Fortunately much has changed and now good beers are easier to find. But with moving house and a new family, it was several years before I got going.

I started with that very same kit that I'd bought originally. The "LHBS" didn't have any real sanitizing products for beer, just metabisulphite for wine, but I didn't know the difference. That combined with almost no viable yeast meant my inaugural brew was 23 liters of vinegar. After seeing just how horribly wrong it can go, I researched, read John Palmer's excellent book and got started with kits, and a few months later, upgraded to AG with a cooler and some cornies.

I've been using a single 20gal blichmann kettle and a kick A burner, but am now in the process of upgrading, greatly inspired by Kal's work on the electric brewery.

When searching on the net, I pretty much always find the answer and an engaged discussion in this forum. Thanks to all the contributors for that! I've been a member for a few years, yet only just saw the chance to introduce myself. So, here you go!

 

[JetSmooth]

Crush,

Welcome! There was a realyl decent bunch of articles in the latest BYO magazine on Scandanavian Brewing traditions. But how's the beer out there? I hear it's pretty much light lagers and whatnot. Though there's supposed to be a decent draft beer movement growing. I'd love to get hold of some Nonge O around here.

My mom's dad was of Norse descent. I've named my "brewery" in his honor.

Brygge Undertrappen - Brewery Under the Stairs.

I store all of my stuff in a crawlspace under my basement stairs. Haha.

 

[crush]

Thanks for the welcome JetSmooth!

I've got the BYO issue, just haven't had chance to read it yet! All the major breweries are pils/lager breweries. But smaller breweries seem to be cropping up producing ales and more interesting beers. Nøgne ø (as you might know, is dialect, the naked island) is nice beer - tastes a lot like good homebrew!

A lot of Norwegians emigrated to the US early last century, so there are lots of descendants over there now, and it seems many are into brewing! Great name for your brewery! I'm still struggling trying to name mine.

 

[JetSmooth]

My gradfather's last name was Texley, an Americanized version of Teksle. There's apparently a whole region called Teksle, including the Teksletoft mountains.

Ever hear of the region?

He went several times and traced back the fmaily line, but I didn't get a chance to go with him before he passed away.

 

[janivar123]

You been at norbrygg.no yet? they have a list of available supplyers
Where in Telemark are you at?

 

[crush]

Hi Jan Ivar,

Thanks for the tip! When I started brewing, I naiively shopped at (believe it or not) Europris, until that failed first batch prompted me to research more. I came across norbrygg.no, as well as a few others - petit-agentur.no, vinogbar.no and humle.se, though I must admit that apart from buying sacks of grain inland and occasionally hops and yeast, I usually buy most of my stuff from the US and have it shipped over via JetCarrier. (Is there anyone selling Blichmann kettles in norway?)

I'm just outside Bø in Telemark. Are you local?

I keep frozen yeast bank - it's currently empty, but will start stocking once the new brewery is operational. If you or anyone you know of wants to swap yeast, let me know.
Cheers!

 

[crush]

D'oh! I keep forgetting the forum on norbrygg.no! Now I know what you meant!

 

[janivar123]

Just an hour away from you then (porsgrunn)
Yep equipment seem hard to find here/ or pretty expensive

I drive to vinogbar for supplyes
Have you visited the dealer in morgedal? cost a bit more but if you dont have a large stock
shopping local might even it out

seen the list of dealers yet?
http://norbrygg.no/index.php/slik-brygger-man/forhandlere

 

[crush]

Cool, you're local (by Norwegian standards!) We're often in Porsgrunn! Are there any brew clubs around here? If you are buying grain or supplies, let me know, maybe we can pool our resources. We don't get to Oslo all that often, but I will be making a trip to Lillestrøm as soon as the new brewery is finished!

Thanks for the link, not seen that one.